Giving back to the community and elevating others is something we truly value at Zühlke. And empowering underrepresented communities in tech is particularly important to us because diversity, 公平和包容是我们的核心理念.
当我们第一次听说TechReturners时，我们知道我们必须参与其中: TechReturners 是否致力于消除职业中断后回归者所面临的障碍, and tackles the digital skills shortage by empowering skilled professionals back into technology careers. 大多数参与者来自代表性不足的背景, the programme doesn’t only address the lack of qualified experts in the tech industry, 但这些专家之间也缺乏多样性.
Team Lead Andrew from Manchester first came across the programme of the TechReturners and saw a great opportunity for us to support the community: "TechReturners present a unique and important opportunity to sponsor, 指导并为人们提供回到技术岗位的途径. We believe this is an under-supported area of talented people who may simply need confidence, refreshed knowledge and a supportive environment that we saw that Tech Returners would provide."
拥有一支回馈社会的团队, 分享知识，激励他人, 当然，我们热衷于合作并赞助了两个队列.
对社区的热情和对职业回归者的平等机会
当被问及他最初参与的原因时, Software Engineer Quintin says: "I want to support people coming back after having left the workforce and help them become a part of the developer community."
高级软件工程师Anna对社区同样充满热情. She has been involved in various initiatives around the thriving Manchester tech community and feels encouraged to continue giving back. "TechReturners offer a great opportunity for returners to learn and try new technologies and methodologies in a safe environment. I totally support this approach and believe that it can accelerate anyone’s career. 因此，我想成为其中的一员."
Her colleague Ioana shares this passion and sees real value in creating equal opportunities for everyone: "Diversity, 平等和包容对我们Zuhlke来说非常重要. We recognise that talent comes in various forms and the different experiences shape people as human beings and make them unique. And every small difference in perspective is valuable as it can play a part in creating a better whole."
尽管人们认识到多元化劳动力的好处, candidates from non-traditional career paths sometimes face challenges early on in the hiring process: "Too often, 简历筛选过程对职业空档有偏见. Years of the industry filtering candidates based on a timeline created a habit of judgement and prejudice. Evaluating someone in this way means that they may miss out on job opportunities where hiring teams are more focused on efficiency rather than the human aspects", Ioana解释说.
为她, supporting the TechReturners initiative means pioneering a better way of empowering people who deserve fair opportunities.
一个专注的群体
作为techreturers计划的赞助商, 我们为参与者提供指导和指导, 用闪电般的演讲来激励他们, 并为我们的商业和职业机会提供了见解.
Anna remembers her first touchpoint with the Manchester cohort: "I met them when I gave a presentation about Zuhlke and talked about my experience and projects here. The Returners were keen to discuss questions and I could feel their enthusiasm about the programme and about tech in general."
She particularly enjoyed the energy in the room with people from various backgrounds and walks of life: "Some of them decided to change their career completely, 其他人则是在长时间的职业休假后回归. 他们分享的是他们的积极和自信. They were all committed to their individual goals, and they were really focused on achieving them."
归国者将他们的技能付诸实践
Ioana and Anna were also involved in creating a ‘Tech-for-Good’ project brief that allowed participants to implement newly learned skills and work collaboratively with other fellow returners.
Anna remembers: "Throughout the program we joined fortnightly sprint reviews to offer input and support. 这让我们能够与团队建立联系, 了解他们的工作方式，更多地了解他们的个人目标."
Anna found this experience invaluable for herself – not only from a mentoring perspective: "It was also a good opportunity for me personally to learn something new! I’m not really a front-end developer but the team’s enthusiasm about design stuck with me and I’ve learnt some new things about front-end tools."
与回归者建立更完善的支援网络, Anna and her colleagues eventually created a Slack channel where participants could reach out and discuss their questions outside of the sprint reviews as well.
技能、社区和职业影响
在最后的展示之后，团队展示了他们的应用程序, Quintin was truly impressed: "I have seen some amazing people do spectacular things within a very small time frame. The participants went above and beyond in creating really great experiences for their users.’"
凭借他们丰富的经验, the participants of the TechReturners programm also brought unique soft skills to the table: "One of the teams has defined ‘improving their team health’ as one of their goals. That was such a great idea which I think should be implemented as a standard in everyone’s work across the industry", 安娜.
她同样对他们的合作和整体思维印象深刻. It’s skills like these that can’t be demonstrated on a CV but are invaluable for an organisation.
Our involvement has also helped our colleagues build a stronger sense of community and belonging: Working together on a meaningful ‘Tech-for-Good’ project brief and exchanging regular updates and success stories hasn’t only been uplifting and rewarding, 它还帮助我们围绕着一个共同的使命团结在一起.
“这是一次很棒的经历, 我个人可以说我学到了很多, 这是肯定的。”, 安娜总结道——她受到鼓舞，继续回馈社会.
安德鲁West-Moore
能力小组主管
